Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff is the second part of The Nevernight Chronicle, and it felt underwhelming. I’ll try to tell you why: In Godsgrave, we continue to follow Mia, who is now a trained assassin and still hell-bent on revenge. To make this generic plot less generic, we get snarky footnotes with background info dumps (hi, Bartimeus), and a same-sex relationship (of course fraught with deceit and passion), where more traditional fantasy would’ve had a hetero relationship. Aaaand, that’s it.
Do you know the books where the ending is predictable by way of the protagonist’s hopes and thoughts? Oh, she thinks she’ll be successful – be prepared for sudden defeat. Oh, she despairs – soaring, bloody victory incoming. This is exactly like this, and it seriously lowered the stakes when reading. The GIANT CLIFFHANGER at the ending felt tired, and I’m honestly not sure I’ll be strung along into the third part of the series. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence does all of this series, and better.
